|
Feeling Like Step Children:
AFL-CIO Organizers
Want Organizer's Union
AFL-CIO Region 21
Chester C. Dusten.
Director
404 Woodlark Building
Portland 5, Oregon
May 17, 1957
John W. Livingston
Director
Dept. of Organization.
AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO Building
Washington 6, D.C.
Dear Sir and Brother:
You will recall at the San Francisco conference, West
Coast organizers were informed that a union of staff representatives was
being initiated from Atlanta, Georgia. We all recognize that no labor
organization was ever born without either a demand or need. This writer
does not feel that there is any particular need for an organization of
staff representatives.
Discussion among the staff of Region 21 has brought
out several points which in this writer's estimation could be given
serious consideration. One of the complaints from the people formerly
with the CIO is that the so-called "lame duck" members of the
staff are the ones who act in advisory capacity on the pension welfare
or other fringe issues. These people feel that these "lame
duck" advisors are not close enough to the pulse of the feeling of
the normal staff member and that in some instances it is entirely
possible that these advisors would feel that sense of obligation towards
their superiors for being placed on the pay roll. This would create a
condition which they could not conscientiously represent the general
staff.
It is the general feeling that there is no close line
of communication from Washington to the staff members on all issues
concerning the staff members' welfare. All members of the field staff
regard their regional director very highly. They feel that a regional
director should not serve in a intermediary capacity involving wages or
fringe benefits of the general staff.
As a suggestion it appears that it might be practical
for the purpose of establishing a direct line of communication and
creating a sense of participation among the staff members if some sort
of a concrete program were adopted which would help them at least to
have an indirect vote. For example if the United States for the purpose
suggested above were divided into Pacific Coast, Rocky Mountain, Central
States, Atlantic Seaboard and Southern States, with the organizers of
these areas to be allowed to select a representative to be their liaison
on matters of wages, fringe benefits, rental cars or such other problems
that might arise.
Every organizer I have talked to strongly desires a
sense of belonging and to be a part of AFL-CIO. Nearly all have the
feeling of being step children. The San Francisco conference to a large
extent alleviated the step child feeling but in no sense served as a
complete answer. Those who are close to retirement are worried about
their insurance benefits. Some who are not close to retirement and
fringe benefit program.
Some of us know that you have worked hard for our
economical benefit. One program which you favored appeared to have
unqualified approval by the staff members, although they would like to
have had the chance to discuss it with you or your representative before
presentation. This program was that of severance pay which the employee
and the AFL-CIO matched funds to create a severance plan as a lump sum
payment.
All of us belonged to unions before going on the
staff. While it was true that these unions which we hold affiliation are
not bargaining representatives, it is a paramount fact that every staff
members' union loyalties must be first and foremost with their parent
union and AFL-CIO. In fact, no staff member would have been employed
unless first a union member. Although this writer does not favor very
strongly the formation of a union of organizers, naturally, if the
entire staff should go he would be with them, same as the other
organizers of this region, as well as that of Region 22. It is not
organization we need, it is recognition and a sense of participation, as
well as a feeling of belonging.
Writing a letter of this nature, it is difficult to
keep from creating an appearance of what in private industries is know
as company stooge, and yet, at the same time express ideas and opinion
which the undersigned feels you should have made known to you. Content
and purpose of this letter is solely to let you know the thinking of the
undersigned and to some extent the thinking of the others on the staff
in the area. I hope that from this letter some idea may come forth which
would better conditions for all of us.
With my sincerest wishes and best regards, I remain
Fraternally yours,
Kenneth R. Bowman,
Organizer
AFL-CIO Dept. of
Organization
Region 21
310 Labor Temple
Seattle, Wash.
* * *
* *
* * * * *
|
The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
 |
*
* * * *
 |
Blacks in Hispanic Literature: Critical Essays
Edited by
Miriam DeCosta-Willis
Blacks in Hispanic Literature is a
collection of fourteen essays by scholars and
creative writers from Africa and the Americas.
Called one of two significant critical works on
Afro-Hispanic literature to appear in the late
1970s, it includes the pioneering studies of
Carter G. Woodson and
Valaurez B. Spratlin, published in the 1930s, as
well as the essays of scholars whose interpretations
were shaped by the Black aesthetic. The early
essays, primarily of the Black-as-subject in Spanish
medieval and Golden Age literature, provide an
historical context for understanding 20th-century
creative works by African-descended, Hispanophone
writers, such as Cuban
Nicolás Guillén and Ecuadorean poet, novelist,
and scholar
Adalberto Ortiz, whose essay analyzes the
significance of Negritude in Latin America. This
collaborative text set the tone for later
conferences in which writers and scholars worked
together to promote, disseminate, and critique the
literature of Spanish-speaking people of African
descent. . . .
Cited by a
literary critic in 2004 as "the seminal study in the
field of Afro-Hispanic Literature . . . on which
most scholars in the field 'cut their teeth'."
|
* * * * *
The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
* *
* * *
Ancient African Nations
* * * * *
If you like this page consider making a donation
* * * * *
Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
* * * * *
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
* *
* * *
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
* * * * *
* *
* * *
update 25 July
2008
|
